America’s Credit Unions President/CEO Jim Nussle wrote to Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., offering support for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Accountability Act, which would ensure accountability for the CFPB by requiring that its funding be appropriated by Congress.
“Currently, the Federal Reserve is required to provide whatever funding that the CFPB requests, within certain limits, a very unusual arrangement that allows the CFPB to avoid the fiscal accountability to which the rest of the Executive Branch is subject,” wrote Nussle. “The broad power that the CFPB wields over financial products that affect every consumer makes it especially important that the Bureau operates with maximum transparency and accountability.”
Nussle also noted that the current status of the constitutionality of CFPB funding remains unclear, despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. “The CFPB’s funding mechanism, which draws its budget from the Federal Reserve’s earnings, is potentially invalid and unconstitutional because the Federal Reserve has not had earnings since September 2022,” added Nussle. “This raises significant legal questions about whether the CFPB has been lawfully funded since then and whether any of its actions taken since then are valid. Your bill would help ensure greater legal certainty in this area.”
Read the full letter. America’s Credit Unions will continue to engage with Congress regarding the bureau’s funding and structure.
